A newly released memo from the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) reveals that one-third of all fires the department has responded to over the past six years involve homeless individuals. The document stresses how the city’s homelessness crisis is increasingly straining emergency services and driving up public safety costs.
The memo states that “rubbish fires” — half of which involve the homeless — have become the department’s top service call type in 2024. These fires, often started near encampments, are adding to LAFD’s growing workload at a time when staffing levels are reportedly declining. “Falling LAFD staffing and rising homeless dispatch volume leave the department overextended,” the report notes.
Although homeless individuals make up only 1.2% of Los Angeles’s population, they are involved in 12% of all emergency medical services (EMS) incidents and 33% of fires. According to the memo, this means unhoused individuals are 10 times more likely to use EMS services and 28 times more likely to be “involved” in a fire. “If anything, this number is undercounted,” wrote LAFD, suggesting that the real cost and impact may be even greater.
The memo also references the 2023 underpass blaze that shut down the I-10 freeway, one of the busiest highways in the country, for over a week. A homeless individual reportedly carrying a blowtorch was arrested in connection with the incident, which sparked the deadly Kenneth Fire.
Compounding the issue, the LAFD notes that while funding for its operations has lagged, other departments, such as the Los Angeles Police Department, receive dedicated portions of homelessness-related spending to support their workload. “LAFD could improve service if funded as a distinct part of the Los Angeles City approach for caring for the PEH [people experiencing homelessness] community,” wrote LAFD.
Local leaders are voicing concern over the memo’s findings. “This memo confirms what we’ve already known — that the people whom Los Angeles consigns to live and die on the streets are a danger to themselves and others,” said Los Angeles Republican Party Chairwoman Roxanne Hoge to The Center Square. “Mayor Karen Bass must be held accountable to keep us all safe. The homeless need treatment, and we all need public safety.”
There needs to be real, painful punishment for those who start fires.
“This memo confirms what we’ve already known — that the people whom Los Angeles consigns to live and die on the streets are a danger to themselves and others,”
That’s an outrageous statement. Nobody but themselves consign themselves to be homeless. There are jobs available for anyone willing to work for a living instead of begging. In My Opinion, 99% of these people are homeless by choice.
1.2% of the population is probably in the hundred thousands of people. This is only become a problem when the government decided to provide food and other benefits called “welfare”. Those who get it are living off of taxpayer money and unless they are so handicapped they can’t work they need to get a job.